The Bunker
*Project Rebirth|continent = North America|interest = Cedar Creek (town)|notable_inhabitants = ULC agents and personnel|population = 3,600 (town residents) 3,900 (given number of agents present at any time, non-residents)|notable_former_inhabitants = *Ronald Regan *George H. Bush|image1 = AA33.png|image2 = |caption2 = |caption1 = Interior of one of The Bunker's hangars}}The Bunker is the secondary (and formerly primary) headquarters of the United Liberators Coalition located in the Midwestern United States. Though slightly smaller than the Phoenix Complex, it serves as an emergency back-up command center in the event the Phoenix Complex is compromised or lost, and normally acts as a staging ground for Coalition assets throughout the United States. It is also the first Project Rebirth facility to be constructed, and remains the nucleus of the protocol's network. History Construction The Bunker was first created in the 1970s during the Cold War out of concerns that another possible outbreak of warfare, magical or nuclear, would threaten the United States government in the event of an exchange. Its location was classified and the facility was intended to serve as a continuation of government in the event a doomsday level event occurred in the United States. Construction occurred through the 1970s to early 1980s, and the town of Cedar Creek was appropriated and transformed by the government in order to assist with the logistics of building the facility underneath the nearby Cedar Lake, as well as providing cover for the ongoing construction. At the time of its building, The Bunker was known only to limited government officials and the President of the United States, as part of Project Rebirth, a government protocol to ensure its own survival if the world ended. Awakening Incident The Awakening Incident devastated the United States in 1985, and as a result the Bunker ended up being utilized as Washington D.C. was no longer safe, thought not for the purposes of surviving a nuclear war as originally intended. The Bunker served throughout the entire Awakening as a refuge and also a rallying point for the early militia groups that would later become the Coalition. Due to the massive numbers of people coming to the Bunker to seek shelter and word spreading like wildfire through the country, the location of the facility became an open secret. After the signing of the 1991 Type-III Regulatory Treaty, The United States government departments and executive branch vacated the premises starting in 1991, and were gone by 1993. The Coalition, after its official creation, continued to use the facilities as their main hub and center of operations, until plans were made to build a dedicated surface-level facility in San Francisco. By 2016, the brand new Phoenix Complex had been completed, and the ULC transferred its assets and command over, though still retained use of the Bunker as a staging ground and secondary headquarters. Since the turn of the century, there have been fears by pundits that the North Korean nuclear threat rising in the far east may once again require the use of the Bunker's services. Since 1991, the Bunker has been constantly modernized, upgraded and greatly expanded to meet the needs of the ULC, as well as provide a doomsday shelter yet again for both the agency and the continuation of the US government once more should the need arise, continuing its role as the first Project Rebirth facility. Modern Day Agents Tobias Maki and Martin Rojas reported to The Bunker after being re-assigned from previous Liberators chapters to Liberators-830B, and awaited the arrival of the team to be picked up. In May 2029, due to the re-ignition of the Korean War, President Marcus Whitmore was to transfer his office from Washington D.C. to The Bunker's facilities. Similarly, Director Anthony Griffins of the ULC left his command post in San Francisco and assumed command functions of The Bunker at the same time. When Liberators-830B visited the Bunker to pick up two new agents that were being reassigned to them, they encountered massive numbers of ULC personnel and equipment being moved throughout the facility, likely mobilization of ULC assets for the impending conflict on the Korean Peninsula. On their return trip from the Bunker, a nuclear exchange occurred between the United States and North Korea. The United Liberators Coalition Unified Command issued a recall order for all available agents of certain chapters to retreat to the Bunker and to await further orders, which were likely to be for a counterattack against North Korean metahuman forces. Liberators-830B and most of Liberators-597 both disobeyed this order, though Liberators-830A complied. During the war, The Bunker experienced a metahuman activation, which resulted in damage to some of its faculties and severe injuries to many personnel, including Tyler Cheng. This also complicated matters of returning the chapters and assets to their assigned regions once the crisis had abated. Location and Features Lake and surface At least the hangar areas of the facility are located under Cedar Lake. Numerous circular watertight iris doors are hidden underneath the lake's surface, and are revealed when approaching aircraft cleared to enter arrive in the facility's airspace. Metal walls rise out of the water and form a seal around the circumference of the door, pumping out lake water inside the ring and holding back the lake in order to allow aircraft to descend through the opening. As the Bunker has no runway available, all aircraft arriving at the facility must be capable of VTOL. The hangar can store numerous ACS-2 Aquila-class stealth command jets, as the hangar doors in the ceiling and underneath the lake are wide enough to accommodate them. These were likely built in recent years. On the surface near the shores of the lake, a tall white 19th century styled lighthouse overlooking a cliff ostensibly is used to provide visual aid for boats on the lake in foggy weather. However as the presence of the facility and its hangar doors underwater make boating forbidden, the reality of the lighthouse is that it is a tracking beacon equipped with hidden sensors and a radar and communications tower. Numerous hidden and secure passageways allow entrance into the facility through secret checkpoints in the town of Cedar Creek, a sleepy Midwestern township on the edge of the lake that conceals the true nature of what lies beneath. Despite The Bunker now being public knowledge, its facilities are still hidden "to keep real estate prices up" according to Charlie Lang, and because it is intimidating, according to Siegfried Peters. Underground The Bunker boasts numerous underground facilities that are sufficient to keep the base mostly self-sustaining in the event of a doomsday-level event, and facilities to aid in the day-to-day operations of the United Liberators Coalition. There are at least three main levels. * Atriums: The Bunker has several atriums connecting the numerous departments together, where food, drink and socializing areas are avalaible for use by Coalition personnel. Dozens of large corridors and hallways connect the critical facilities to each other, allowing hundreds of people to pass through them at a time. ** At least one included a Starbucks. * Operations rooms: Multiple conference rooms and operation planning rooms were available on the administration levels for team leaders, head officials and chapter commanders to plan and strategize upcoming missions, or to monitor ongoing ones. ** Director Griffins had an appointment with the US Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff in one of these rooms, implying that the United States military command had a presence within The Bunker by May 2029. ** In addition prior to his conversation with Charlie Lang, a digital world map was seen in one of the operation command rooms, with red hotspots around the Korean Peninsula displayed on it, indicating that he was overseeing ULC activity in the region. * Offices: Over a hundred different offices exist within the facility for the purpose of logistics and conducting agency business. One such example was Requisitions, whom Marcus Tristan attempted to speak directly with following his numerous denied requests for powered armor. * '''Laboratories: '''Numerous laboratories existed for scientific research, technology and equipment development, and to test new equipment in controlled environments. * '''Arsenals: '''The Bunker is equipped with weaponry ranging from small arms to rifles and body armor, to missiles mounted on aircraft and autocannon ammunition, to even nuclear weapons that are on standby at all times in the event a nuclear mission is authorized. Weapon depots throughout the facility supply the incoming Liberators field teams and their vehicles.